Toews vetting RCMP Commissioner’s travel

Public Safety Minister Vic Toews may have interfered in the independent workings of Canada’s national police force in an effort to reduce unnecessary departmental spending.

iPolitics has learned that as of February 2012, all RCMP executives are required to get the minister’s approval for all executive retreats, meetings and conferences, including travel, over $5,000 dollars.

Access to information documents show that RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson has asked Minister Toews on multiple occasions for permission to attend meetings with National and International Police Associations. In his letters, Paulson justifies his attendance at these meetings, alongside a list of other participants, key outcomes of the conference, and financial costs. The bottom of each letter prompts the Minister to check ‘accept or decline’ the Commissioner’s request.

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In a letter dated July 16th, 2012, Paulson states that travel to a gathering of Canadian Police Chiefs would help strengthen relationships. The Commissioner requested over $84,000 dollars to send 28 RCMP executives, including himself, to a conference in Nova Scotia. The Minister approved this request.

Whether it’s a national gathering of police organizations or department staff, the government should not be interfering in the affairs of Canada’s national police force, said Ron Lewis, a former RCMP officer and member of the Canadian Mounted Police Veteran’s Association. Although events like the annual meeting of Canadian Police Chiefs appear insignificant, Lewis said they are a major part of the Commissioner’s job.

Toews’ director of communications, Julie Carmichael, justified her minister’s directive as a way to eliminate wasteful spending and return the government to a balanced budget. “In that climate it is important that senior public servants show leadership,” she wrote in an email.

Regardless of the government’s intent, the NDP’s Public Safety critic Randall Garrison said the Minister should have enough confidence in the RCMP Commissioner to make decisions about the department independently. Instead of ordering the RCMP to report spending to the Minister, the government should simply tell the department how much money they need to save.

“The decisions on how to do (save money) that in operations must remain with the Commissioner,” he said.

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The Minister of Public Safety appears to be tightening the government’s grip on Canada’s national police force and threatening its independence. By law, the RCMP is supposed to be at arms-length from the federal government, but their arms seem to be shortening. While former Conservative Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day would not confirm whether approving travel expenses and meetings for senior RCMP officers was a new procedure, Day told iPolitics that generally, his office did not approve expenses.

This revelation comes less than a month after Minister Toews was accused of muzzling the RCMP after ordering senior officers to get approval from his office before meeting with parliamentarians. In 2011, Toews told MPs they could not meet the newly appointed head of the RCMP without notifying the department of Public Safety. The Minister’s latest attempt to interfere with the RCMP does not come as a surprise, said Garrison.

“We’re seeing a pattern for a lack of respect for these agencies that need to be free of political interference,” he said.

Being tied to the federal government can create problems down the road, said Rae Banwarie, the National President of British Columbia’s Mounted Professional Association. To maintain their credibility, RCMP officers must operate in isolation from political parties. The RCMP is often called in to investigate MPs, Senators and issues within government departments; the RCMP is currently probing the Senate expense scandal.

“If there is a need for investigations,we must appear and we must be independent from government,” he said .

It’s unknown whether there are any penalties associated with failure to comply with Minister Toews’ directive.